App Watch: ‘Between’ Aims to Grow Beyond Korea

After two services – a Korean version of Flipboard and an e-book related app – failed, Jake Park, chief executive of Value Creators & Co. was in desperate need of an item that could turn around the company and boost morale.

An avid user of Facebook and Kakao Talk, the widely popular home-grown instant messaging service in South Korea, Mr. Park got to pay attention to what he calls “social network fatigue,” where too much information is shared with people you barely know.

The development of an application called “Between” was an answer to the need, he said, especially among young couples who are looking for an intimate space to share their emotions and record the progress of their relationship, without the prying eyes of family members or judgment from acquaintances. On Between, couples can easily choose their favorite photos to curate, share instant messages or missives, plan a date and chronicle relationship development.

The free app, which is available both for iPhones and Android-based smartphones and comes in 13 languages, has been downloaded more than 3.75 million times worldwide since it was unveiled in November 2011. Monthly active users hover at more than 1 million. Most of its users are Korean, followed by Japanese with 350,000 and Americans with 150,000.

While the primary market for the company is Asia, Mr. Park said in an interview it plans to open an office in Singapore later this year and is also eyeing Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan. The company currently has an office in Japan.

The company successfully pulled off two rounds of investment – 1 billion won, or $891,000, from SoftBank Ventures Korea in November 2011 and another 3 billion won early this year from four venture capital firms –SoftBank Ventures Korea, KTB Network,Capstone Partners, and Stonebridge Ventures.

The 28-year-old software engineer founded the company in 2011. During his school years at Korea’s top university, Seoul National University, he set his sights firmly on building his own product that could “have an impact on other people’s lives.” For 3 years, he held a weekly session with like-minded friends in entrepreneurial spirit and met with many entrepreneurs for tips on starting a start-up.

Screenshot of Between

Mr. Park shared some interesting behavioral patterns among Between users: Koreans love instant messaging with 70 messages, on average, per day in contrast to 40 among Japanese users – the second biggest market after South Korea. Relationship lasts, on average, one year. Photos are updated mostly on Sunday nights – presumably after a date during the weekend.

The company pays close attention to what its users want. It has recently started a service to restore data deleted after break-ups. But it turned out that couples are, in a moment of anger, prone to whimsical deletion of their relationship history. It receives 200-300 daily requests from users to restore their history.

At the end of this year, the company will also unveil a major upgrade to the Between app that has a totally different look and feel, Mr. Park said. Added features include a calendar sharing function and a daily deals service that enables users to more easily give presents to their significant other. Currently, it profits mostly from selling emoticons like hearts and smiley faces as well as targeted advertisements.

“The most important thing is to significantly expand our user base,” said Mr. Park, adding that he hopes the app becomes a prominent sales platform for third-party businesses targeting young couples who don’t mind splurging on presents for anniversaries and birthdays.

“My goal is to see couples around the world consider using Between as a ‘symbol of commitment,” he said.